Between Two People
by Miss Mimulus
Summary: Soccer-loving Hikaru found himself with visions of another world, another life, another Hikaru. As images unfold, Hikaru will find himself searching for Sai, an emerging professional Go player in his world, hoping for answers.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**~ Between Two People ~**

_**A/N: **_Hello. Hello. New to HnG fandom. Any spelling or grammar errors, please forgive. Any discrepancies, please let me know.

The idea sprang to life from an extremely vivid dream (after reading much HnG stories) that became vaguer the more I tried to remember it, as does all dream, really. Nonetheless, I got the gist of it and thought it was worth putting into words. And so, voila. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. And indulge me by leaving a review or two. Thanks.

**Disclaimer**: Do not own Hikaru no Go or else I'd be on an island somewhere with a personal chef (or five).

**Summary**: Soccer-loving Hikaru found himself with visions of another world, another life, another Hikaru. As images unfold, Hikaru will find himself searching for Sai, an emerging professional Go player in his world, hoping for answers.

**Chapter 1: Prologue**

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Something important was coming. Ever since Shindo Hikaru was young, he had felt this insurmountable _anticipation _for something that he did not know. It was greater than the eagerness for holidays, presents, or birthdays. It gave him boundless energy; he was not able to sit still or stay still. He was very impatient and showed no regard for politeness nor rules. At first, his teachers suspected that Hikaru's had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). They conveyed their concerns to Hikaru's parents who then took him to an ADHD specialist.

At the age of 7, Hikaru was diagnosed with ADHD.

Shindo Masao refused to believe that his son was _ill _and had taken to ignoring Hikaru's need. Shindo Mitsuko worried that she could not handle her son. A month later, with Hikaru's grandfather, Shindo Heihachi's, insistance, Mitsuko went to the specialists to learn how to cope with a child with ADHD.

Unlike the teachers who knew what ADHD was, Hikaru's classmates were ignorant. Their ignorant caused them to be cruel. Soon, Hikaru found himself with a lack of friends. The person who stayed by his side was his childhood friend, Akari Fujisaki, whose mom explained to her that Hikaru just had lots of energy to spend.

One day, when Heihachi took his grandson to the park, they found that Hikaru's endless energy could be applied to soccer. Hikaru loved the sport. With the constant movement that being a soccer player entails, he was not the weird one in the group. He was able to make friends with fellow players and have fun. Even his dad would come see his son play every once in a while. Yes, Hikaru loved the sport.

At the age of 8, Hikaru decided he would become the greatest soccer player there ever was.

Time passed and Hikaru grew. He was told that his never-ending amounts of energy and his behavior was because of ADHD. However, somewhere deep inside him, he _knew _that it was not the psychological diagnosis that everyone thought he had. He knew that the restlessness was from a different source. He tried to explain that he was looking forward to _something _with every fiber of his being and he could not stop until he found what it is. No one paid any attention to his thoughts or feelings and deemed them foolish. The specialists and other adults were certain that it was ADHD so why couldn't Hikaru accept it. After all, all these adults couldn't be wrong.

At the age of 10, Hikaru stopped trying to correct the adults.

When Hikaru entered the sixth grade, something within him started to change. The eagerness, the anticipation, the expectancy, it increased.

His classmates became more callous. His teammates was a bit worried. Even Akari felt intimidated by her constantly active friend. His father continued to ignore it. His mother became more concerned. The specialists feared his ADHD worsened.

It was Hikaru's grandfather that felt the need to act. Even with his aging years, Heihachi tried to keep his grandson busy with tasks after tasks. One afternoon, Heihachi told Hikaru to come over and help him clean the shed. Hikaru refused, but was coerced into it with a bribe: new soccer gear.

"My god. Gramps, what the hell do you keep in here?" Hikaru murmured as his grandpa pushed the wooden door inward disturbing the settled dust.

"Mind your language," Heihachi corrected automatically, knowing full well that Hikaru would not heed his reproof.

Heihachi waved the dust out of his face and with the little light that the afternoon sun provided, fumbled his way to the center of the shed for the light switch that dangled from the light bulb. Instantly, the shed lit up and they could see all the tables, chairs, glassware, and boxes along with the layer of dust on top.

"Ugh. This place smells _old_, " Hikaru emphasized the last word and scrunched his face for added affect.

Heihachi ignored Hikaru. "Hm, there certainly more stuff here than I remember," Heihachi noted as he surveyed the surrounding.

"I can't believe I'm here. Where in the hell do we start?" Hikaru grumbled and moaned. If it wasn't for the new soccer gear that he desperately need before the game next weekend, he would be home playing his video game or even better, playing soccer.

"Hang on, let me go grab a mop or something," Hikaru's grandpa said as he left for the main house.

"Ask grandma to make some cookies for a snack!" Hikaru called after, though he was pretty sure his grandma already had a batch or two in the oven by now. She always made cookies whenever Hikaru would come over.

Hikaru looked around the small space again. It took a second glance-over, but he saw that in a corner of the room, there was a small table with a rather big box labeled FRAGILE in big red letters.

Curiosity got a hold of him and he went to open the box. As soon as he lifted the cardboard lid off and saw a Go board along with two wooden bowls, he was rooted to the spot, staring at the board without blinking. It was several minutes before he could ushered his hands forward to take one of the white pieces within the wooden bowls between his center and index finger like it was the most natural thing to do.

He surveyed his fingers and that feeling of urgency and expectancy intensified. Hikaru swear he could hear his own heart beat loudly against his chest. Then, it seemed the hand which held the smooth white piece, had a mind of its own and seconds later, Hikaru watched as his hand slapped the piece onto the grid-like board with a sharp _Klak_.

As soon as the piece touched the board, Hikaru felt a rush of emotions consume him. Happiness. Sadness. Pain. Fear. Nostalgic. Loneliness. The moment was too much and soon all Hikaru saw was darkness.

At the age of 12, Hikaru fainted for the first time.

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_**A/N:**_ Short and simple. I might go back to edit this again when I figure out specifically where I want to go from here.

Also, my knowledge of ADHD is limited at best. I'm not trying to make fun of it or people who are diagnosed with it. I'm also not making light of the diagnosis either. For the purpose of this story, indulge me with my interpretation.


	2. Chapter 2 Akari and Her Friend

**~ Between Two People ~**

_**A/N: **_Bonjour. Bonjour. Any spelling (which I unashamedly put the blame on the auto-correct) or grammar errors, please forgive. Have no Beta. Any discrepancies, please let me know. This chapter was hard to write for some reason so apologies for the quality.

Thank you **Rhavaniel15 **and especially **Me-Anne**. I learned much from your comments and though I realized that my interpretation is not 100% accurate, I'd hope you'd bear with me because I already framed the story according to my interpretation, however misguided it is.

**Disclaimer**: Do not own Hikaru no Go, unfortunately.

**Summary**: Soccer-loving Hikaru found himself with visions of another world, another life, another Hikaru. As images unfold, Hikaru will find himself searching for Sai, an emerging professional Go player in his world, hoping for answers.

**Chapter 2: Akari and Her Friend**

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Something was bothering Hikaru, Akari was sure of it. Her friend since they were young was acting strangely. He was so _quiet _and _still_. Hikaru is never quiet for more than a few hours nor inactive as he is now. He seemed so lifeless and _empty_.

It started on Monday when Akari came by to pick Hikaru up before they head off to school.

"Good morning Mrs. Shindo!" Akari brightly greeted the woman who opened the door.

"Oh, Akari, good morning. Hikaru will be right down," Mrs. Shindo replied distractedly. Her eyebrow scrunched together lightly and Akari could see concern evident in the older woman's eyes.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Mrs. Shindo replied and unable to refrain a sigh. "Hikaru fainted yesterday."

"He fainted?" Akari exclaimed, alarmed.

"Yes. He fainted at his grandpa's house, but it just seemed like he was sleeping and he woke up an hour later," Mrs. Shindo explained. She remembered the frightened call she received yesterday afternoon. Her heart stopped beating for a few seconds in fear that something had happen to her son. She rushed over immediately and was thankfully reassured that Hikaru was okay.

"Did he tell you why or what happened?"

"No, that's what worried me. He was unusually calm when he woke up. He just stared at us," Mrs. Shindo gave a conscious shudder. She remembered the boy's haunting green eyes that seemed oddly dull and gray. It was like he wasn't her son, but someone else's.

"I'll talk to him," Akari proclaimed confidently. Hikaru always talked to her.

Mrs. Shindo nodded and it was then that they saw Hikaru walked towards them with a piece of toast in his mouth. With a nod towards his mother, Hikaru steered Akari out the door and down the street towards school. Akari turned around for a quick wave and a reassuring smile.

They began their 15 minute walk towards their school in silence. Usually, Hikaru would make some sort of insulting remark and Akari would try to hit him and chase him all the way to school. Today, nothing happened.

"Hey Hikaru, I heard you fell asleep yesterday. I don't think your grandpa will get you all the soccer stuff you wanted!" Akari joked. Hikaru had excitedly told her over the phone yesterday morning that his gramps agreed to buy him new soccer gear if Hikaru would help out with some cleaning.

"Yea, I guess not," was Hikaru's only response. He was more focus on kicking the rock straight ahead so that in a few steps it will be in position for another kick.

Akari almost stopped in her tracks. She had expected him to selfishly claim that it wasn't his fault and that he would still get the new equipments regardless. She turned to look at her friend and noticed that he was not his usual cheerful energetic self. His shoulders slouched as he walked, his eyes downcast and focused on the ground. _Perhaps he's sad about it,_ Akari thought and decided that this was the reason.

Monday went by. Hikaru still did some of the things that he normally does: went to class, not pay attention, made rude noises, play soccer, and ate. But, Akari noted, he did it all with less vigor, less excitement, less _Hikaru_. And for all that Akari predicted, Hikaru did not seek her out to explain or whine and that was what worried her the most. Akari wanted to believe that it was nothing and that by the next day, Hikaru would be back to his animated and active self.

Tuesday came and Hikaru did not turn back to the Hikaru she remembered. Akari tried to question the blond-banged boy several times through the morning, but got no reply. Akari was determined to pry something out of her friend. She was going to corner him during lunch time, if need be.

"Ne, Hikaru, what's wrong?" Akari inquired, blocking the exit. She had managed to catch him before he walked out of their math class towards the cafeteria for lunch. She was worried earlier about how to get Hikaru alone, but as luck would have it, Hikaru dawdled and was the last person in the classroom.

"Hm?"

Hikaru wasn't looking at her. "Something happened. What is it that got you so down?" Akari asked again.

"Nothing." Hikaru shrugged and gave her a blank look.

"It's not nothing. You're not yourself. Something had to happen." Akari refused to be dissuaded.

"What do you want?" Hikaru replied with a hint of irritation laced into his words.

"Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing. Is. Wrong," Hikaru bit out each word through gritted teeth.

Akari tried to contain her sigh. This was not going as planned. She saw that Hikaru was getting frustrated as time passed; his fist opened and closed. Akari did not know how to proceed. When Hikaru gets angry, he gets _scary_.

"But Hikaru, I'm worried. And so is your mom. We don't know what happened if you don't tell us, tell me. I want-"

"Shut up! Leave me alone," Hikaru shouted. His green eyes were ablazed and he was seething.

Akari unconsciously took a step back when she saw him barely holding himself back from lunging at her with his clenched fist. Hikaru stalked out of the room without looking back.

"Hikaru!" Akari tried to call out to him, but he did not give any indication that he heard her and kept going towards the food court.

Akari slouched against the door frame as she tried to calm her nerves. _Whatever had happened, it is big. Something was definitely going on with Hikaru._

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Hikaru kicked the pebble forward and it landed a few feet away. He continued kicking the pebble as he walked, alternating which foot to kick with. Hikaru was feeling overwhelmed, tired, and guilty, especially guilty. He bailed out on his teammates claiming he had an appointment. Now, he was aimlessly walking around. His mother did not know that Hikaru skipped soccer practice and was not expecting him until much later.

However, what weighed heavier in his mind was Akari. He avoided her during lunch and he ducked away as soon as classes were over. How can he tell her what was happening when even he didn't understand what exactly was going on.

He was seeing things. Ever since he woke up from the fainting spell, he felt different, like someone was trying to take over him. He started seeing things, places, black and white patterns, and especially people, some familiar, others strangers. It is not like seeing apparitions, it was more of seeing those things in his mind. The images play through in his mind like a movie, albeit a choppy, random silent movie. Sometimes there would be accompanying feelings to the images. Other times there would be -

_Clack._

The pebble that Hikaru had kicked earlier thumped against the wall of a store. Hikaru lifted his eyes and saw the sign. It was a Go Salon and he shivered when the feeling of deja vu scuttled up and down his spine.

He stepped into the salon as the image of a boy about his age with a silly haircut popped into his mind. The interior of the salon was clean and there were various customers scattered throughout the room. There were several tables with the same looking board as the one that he fainted next to and the customers, mainly men in their later years, were milling around each table. The soft sound of the stones hitting the boards echoed through Hikaru's ears reminding him of what he had managed to do on his grandfather's board. He had seen himself place the stone down, but it felt like he was watching from beyond his body. Was that what people called an out of body experience?

"Welcome." Hikaru turned to face the voice that greeted him. It was the lady at the counter. "Is this your first time here?" she asked before pointing at the registry on the counter. "Write your name here."

Hikaru lifted the pen and hover it over the registry, but he wasn't sure what to do. He still had time to tell her that he made a mistake and make a dash for it. Yet, it felt like déjà vu, just being there in the salon. It was exactly like the image in his head, the settings and people were the same.

"Is there a player here that you'd want to play Go with or do you want me to find you someone?" the lady, Hikaru noted was Ichikawa from the name tag, asked kindly.

Before Hikaru could answer, he saw Ichikawa-san's eyes lit up and a large smile erupted as she looked passed his shoulders before calling out. "Akira-kun! How are you?"

The name felt familiar and Hikaru turned around to find himself face-to-face with a boy about his age with the silliest haircut and such feminine features. It dawned on him a second later that it was the same boy from his visions. "You!" Hikaru pointed and blurted out in surprise.

Ichikawa gave a slight frown. "I think you should probably find another player. Akira-kun is probably busy. Oh, Akira-kun, this is a new customer to the salon," Ichikawa explained when she saw Akira looked up at her in question, "and it seems he wants to play you."

"Oh, I don't mind." the boy then turned to face Hikaru, "Hello, my name is Toya Akira, a sixth grader. Pleased to meet you."

A moment of silence greeted the boy as he wait for Hikaru to reply. After a moment more, it turned awkward. "Er, why don't we head towards the back and play a game." Toya Akira began walking towards the back of the room, expecting Hikaru to follow.

Hikaru was rooted to his spot during the interaction because visions after visions were rushing through his head. It was all images of the placement of the stones onto the board. As the last of the vision finished, Hikaru realized that the boy was already halfway towards the back of the room. Hikaru had a choice to make: follow the visions to see if it's true or put it off as a coincidence and head home.

Hikaru followed the boy known as Toya Akira.

"So how strong are you?" Toya asked as he lift the lid off the wooden bowl.

"I- " Hikaru cleared his throat, trying to find his voice before replying. "I don't know."

"Don't know? Why don't you put down four or five stones then?" Toya suggested politely.

For some reason, the words triggered another vision and Hikaru found himself telling the other boy, "I don't need a handicap".

"Uh..." Toya rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "Okay. Why don't you start?"

Hikaru opened his own bowl to find he had black stones. He dipped his hand into the bowl and felt the cold smooth stones. The images came again, washing over him, almost taking control of him. His mind saw his hand placed the stones hesitantly and if he listened carefully, he could swear he heard a soft excited voice.

An hour or so probably passed, though Hikaru did not have a grasp of time, lost in his mind that he was. It was when the board was close to being filled with black and white stones that the succession of images stopped and it was a wave of feelings and knowledge that overcame him. He knew where, why, and how to place the stones. The stone felt familiar between his middle and fore finger instead of the awkwardness of the fore finger and thumb.

"I lost."

The defeated whisper broke Hikaru's focus and however fast the images and knowledge came, they left just as quick, leaving Hikaru stunned. He blinked a few times to clear the haze that he was seeing through. He saw the other boy bowed his head down and could see the boy had a slight quiver of his hands.

"Wha-," Hikaru glanced down at the board, unsure of what had occurred. The patterns of white and black stones stared back at him as more unwanted images resumed flashing through his mind. With barely enough time to utter 'I'm sorry', Hikaru rushed out the door. He did not turn around to answer the boy calling after him nor the woman at the counter shouting that something fell out of his bag.

Hikaru just ran.

Hikaru ran passed the bakery that he went to, once a month, with his mom. He ran passed the bookstore that held some of his favorite manga that he couldn't buy yets. He ran passed the video game store that had the newest video game. He ran passed the sports equipment store without looking at the soccer gear that he really wanted before Saturday's game.

He ran away from what had transpire. He ran away from the images. He ran away in fear. Something was happening to his mind, his body, to him and it frightened Hikaru. Hikaru ran until he could not run anymore. Bracing his hands on his knee, Hikaru hunched over to catch his breath. He barely registered his surrounding before he heard a voice.

"Hikaru?"

Hikaru looked up, wide-eyed, and saw a familiar face. "Akari! What are you doing here?"

"I'm buying milk," Akari replied, indicating the plastic bag in her hand. The park was a shortcut from Akari's house and the convenience store. She chew her lower lip wondering if it was okay to talk to Hikaru or if he was going to burst and throw a tantrum.

Several moments passed in silence with neither of them looking at the other. The sound of a big truck passed by several yards away and it broke the silence because seconds later, Akari and Hikaru were tripping over each other words to speak.

"Akari, I-"

"Hikaru, did-"

"What?" Hikaru indicated Akari should go ahead and talk first. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, he only spoke to fill in the deafening silence.

"I was going to ask you if you just finished soccer practice? You look like you've been running a lot," Akari replied, deciding that this was a safe topic. A light wind lifted a few strands of her hair and deposited them in-between her lip. She brushed it away, noting how the wind sway Hikaru's blond bangs to the side. The patch of blond framed his eyes and accentuated the deep emerald green of his eyes.

Akari remembered the day last year that Hikaru came over to her house with a mischievous smile on his face. He immediately pushed her towards the bathroom and with a grin, shoved the bottle of blond dye into her hands. She had looked at him in confusion before Hikaru went into an excited, arm-waving explanation of what he wanted to do. All Akari got from the runaway details was Hikaru wanted to dye his hair blond because he saw a great soccer player who had blond hair; he believed that if his own hair was blond, it would help him become a great player himself.

Akari had scolded, reasoned, and persuaded Hikaru into giving up the idea. Unfortunately, the best that she could do was cajoled him into only dyeing his bangs. Mrs. Shindo was not as lenient. Hikaru was grounded for weeks.

Akari smiled softly at the fond memory. Her mind was reeled back into the present when she saw Hikaru opened his mouth, yet no words came out.

"I'm not going crazy!" Hikaru exclaimed suddenly a second later. He wanted desperately to tell someone about his visions, but who would believe such an implausible story. It was crazy. They would think he's crazy!

"Hikaru?" Akari questioned, concern etched in her voice as she took a step towards him with arms outstretched.

"Akari, you have to believe me, I'm not crazy!" Hikaru closed the gap, grasping onto Akari's sleeves. His eyes were distressed and his hand shook where he held her sleeves.

Akari didn't understand what made Hikaru so frantic, but she would trust in her friend. One of her hand gently laid over Hikaru's shaking hand, her eyes soften, and Akari softly spoke with conviction. "Of course. I'll always believe you. You know that."

And Hikaru did know that. Akari was the only one who believed him. His parents didn't understand him. His grandfather, though he tried hard, didn't fully understand him. They didn't believe him when he told him that he didn't have ADHD. They didn't believe him when he said that he was waiting, anticipating for _something_.

Akari believed him. Hikaru had told her last about the feeling he had and expected her to scoff in disbelief. Yet, she only nodded her head in understanding and said, "Yea, okay. That makes sense."

_She'll believe him this time around too. _Hikaru thought fiercely to himself as if he was trying to convince himself rather than the emptiness of his mind.

"When I-I fainted at gramp's the other day," Hikaru began, stumbling over his words. Hikaru took a few shallow breaths. "Do you remember back then when I told you that I was waiting for something? That it wasn't ADHD?"

Akari gave a slight nod that urged him to go on, but her eyes instantly recognized where the conversation was heading.

"I think I'm getting close to whatever that something is."

Akari gasped. No wonder Hikaru wasn't himself. He was always haunted by this and to think that it was finally going somewhere. Yet, Akari was curious and she showed it with her eyes.

Hikaru blurted out his next words, rushing through them. "I've been having visions, images really. It's like a movie playing in my head. It has you in it or someone that looked like you. It had other strangers in it. It was so real! I'm not going crazy! I swear it."

"Oh, Hikaru," Akari whispered when she saw tears starting to form in his eyes and his hands trembled like crazy.

"And then there's this old man's game constantly, _constantly_, in my head. It was just patterns and then I knew it. Something took over me and I knew the game, I _really knew _the game! It was me playing this game, but it wasn't me playing the game," Hikaru continued, his voice grew louder, shakier.

The tears finally fell and it broke Akari's heart.

"Akari, you got to believe me, I'm not making this up. I'm seeing these things and I just know that it's related to whatever it is I'm waiting for. I just don't know how!" Hikaru shouted the last phrase and his head shook in frustration.

Akari felt that it was so much to take in. It _was _hard to believe in. Yet, it was Hikaru's desperate face, trembling hands, and fearful, begging eyes that gave her answers. Hikaru had never lied to her over anything this serious and thus there was no reason not to believe him, no matter how outlandish it may seem.

"Please, Akari, you need to believe me!" Hikaru was practically sobbing now. His knees collapsed and he dragged her onto the ground with him.

Hikaru's pleading eyes were too much that Akari couldn't contain herself and she felt tears falling down her cheeks. Her voice broke when she spoke. "O-of course Hikaru, always."

Akari's words only made Hikaru howled out in relief. He held onto her, cried, and repeatedly told her 'thank you'.

It wasn't long until Hikaru told her more. He told her about how he fainted. He told her how frustrating the images were. He told her about the game that he had with the boy, Touya Akira. He told her about his confusion. He told her about his fear. He told her all and Akari listened and cried along with him.

The two ended up gripping each other arms, shaking and crying.

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_**A/N: **_This chapter started out okay, but ended in a BIG MESS (and didn't end up as emotional as I'd hoped). Ugh. It gave me such a headache. Why does it sounds so much better in my mind than on paper? I am not satisfied with this chapter, but it's hard to work on the next chapter when this isn't done yet. After days of agonizing over it, I'll just throw it out there and will edit it once I find a better way to fix it so don't rage at me about it because I know how messy it is, really, I do.

Also, classes are starting soon. Expect delays. Long, long delays.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 - Akira and The Boy


	3. Chapter 3 Akira and The Boy

**~ Between Two People ~**

_**A/N: **_Nihao. Nihao. Been a while. Everyone well and all that?

Anyhow, if you've read to this chapter, I think it's safe to say this is an **Alternative Universe** story therefore, my rules (even if they don't make sense - I believe _**Me-Anne **_called it 'Creative License', heehee) and I rule with an _iron-fist_, albeit a listening iron-fist. This is stated because there are a few comments that I _**desperately **_want to explain, elaborate, or say 'BINGO', but must resist. Grrr.

**Disclaimer**: Do not own Hikaru no Go - which if I did, wouldn't help the story any way with me not knowing Go and all.

**Summary**: Soccer-loving Hikaru found himself with visions of another world, another life, another Hikaru. As images unfold, Hikaru will find himself searching for Sai, an emerging professional Go player in his world, hoping for answers.

**Chapter 3: Akira and The Boy**

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Toya Akira was privileged and he knew it. He lived in a grand home, went to a high-achieving school, and had no financial issues that he knew of. He was raised in a household where his parents had allowed him to pursue Go. With his father as the Meijin Akira was able to play many strong players and he hoped to reach their level soon. Having learned Go at an early age and being around professional players, his Go was stronger than other kids his age, not that he was bragging because it was the truth.

Yet, out of nowhere came the boy with the bleached blond bangs. He didn't look like someone who would be interested in Go or really any other games that restricted movement to a chair. However, the other boy did seem a bit strange when he stared at Akira like that and then that awkward moment almost made Akira shuddered.

At first, Akira tried to play Shido-go against him thinking the boy was a total beginner because he was holding the stones like one. A few hands in, Akira noted that even though his opponent holds the stones like a beginner, he placed them well. But the boy's playing style was old, opening with a Shusaku style opening, and his hand stopped at odd places every now and then as if he was unsure where to put them until last minute. With all evidence pointing to the boy being a beginner, it was strange that Akira's moves weren't having any effect against him. And it wasn't just no effect, his attacks were easily deflected!

Then came 17-11. It was not a defensive move nor an offensive one, it's a move to test where he'll move next. Toya Akira was being tested, _he _was at the receiving end of Shido-go unknowingly and by a boy his age! He had risked glancing at his opponent when he finally realized it, but the boy looked so haunting as if he's trying to remember something rather than concentrating on the game. Akira had tried to switch tactics and play a real game.

Towards the end of the game, Akira noted the boy had switched to holding the stones with the ease of a player who had seen numerous games. He hadn't thought anything of it during the game itself because he was trying to avoid an attack. However, after replaying the game at home several times, Akira realized something strange.

The style changed. There were aspect of the style that the boy originally used, but there was a difference. It was as if the boy wasn't trying to play Shido-go anymore, but his own abilities. The strange thing was, the pressure lessen. It seemed like he went from playing against a title-holder to a 3rd or 4th Dan.

He lost. His body shook as he acknowledged the winner. In the end, Toya Akira, who has been playing ever since he can walk, lost by _two moku _to a boy his own age! He had wanted to talk to the boy, but before he could, he heard the chair squeaked against the tile floor and the boy abruptly stood. He muttered something before he rushed towards the door. A second passed by before Akira registered what had happened and he immediately went after the boy, calling out to him. Unfortunately, the other kid was impossibly faster than him and was out of sight after he left the salon and blended in with the crowd.

Currently, he was at his father's salon, hoping that the kid would come again. His heart beat in anticipation and determination. If the boy came again, Akira would not underestimate him and played with the best of his abilities.

Akira was so sure that the boy would come again. His skills were unbelievable and he must want to play Akira again. Their skills were stronger than other children their age so the other boy must know how Akira felt, being isolated for their skills. There was no challenges from those younger than them, they must look for people older and wiser than them. Therefore, to be able to find someone your own age... The other boy _must _be feeling the same. He must!

"Akira-kun?"

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Hikaru was feeling the adrenaline pumping. Sweat was glistening on his face and had already soaked his shirt. They were currently down a player, the game tied, and there's five minutes left on the clock. If they didn't make this goal, the game would go to overtime and stamina was never their team's strong point.

"Go Hikaru!"

Hikaru wasn't sure if that was from Akari or his grandma from the stands. He wasn't even sure if he heard his name and not 'Fubuki', the forward on the field. Hikaru tried to sneak a peek, but it probably wasn't the best idea at the moment. The opponent had the ball and Hikaru needed to keep moving.

Being a central midfielder is tough and constantly needed to be on the move, which suited Hikaru just fine because his stamina is endless compared to his teammates. He loved being the control tower, involved in almost every aspect of the game. Hikaru called his play style a cross between a box-to-box and playmaker. As a central midfielder, he can immediately size up how the match is going and what attacks or defensive plans need to be put in place. All his concentrations needed to be in the game. All his attention needed to be on the field.

Reiji Saito, the vice captain and arguably the strongest player on the team as the sweeper, had initially tried to persuade Hikaru to take on a more offensive play position such as a striker or winger. Reiji thought it would fit Hikaru's image more than a calculating central midfielder. However, the captain and goalkeeper, Hiroto Kudou, saw potential in Hikaru as a midfielder.

The first few games Hikaru played with the team proved that Hiroto was right. Hikaru had a great grasp of the game and can seemingly predict the opponents movements with an accuracy that is frightening. When asked how Hikaru can see through his opponents' moves and make such a fast counterattack, all Hikaru did was shrugged and smiled. Hiroto and the coach has high hopes for Hikaru's soccer future.

That future include attending Kaio Junior High starting in April for the new year. Though Hikaru wasn't academically proficient, his grades were passable, and he was admitted when Kaio's soccer coach had scouted him out. Hikaru couldn't wait. Kaio Junior High had one of the best soccer team in the region and it's a great place to get scouted for high school or leagues so it bodes well for Hikaru's future in soccer.

Speaking of soccer, Hibiki Hitomiko , the center-back, had just diverted a direct shot into the net. Hiroto had the ball now, grasping it in his hands above his head. His eyes were scanning the field and Hikaru took it as a cue.

"Reiji, go up! Daisuke, readied the ball for Fubuki!" Hikaru shouted the orders to the sweeper and the winger respectively. His hands and fingers gestured to different directions that seemed to make sense to his teammates because within seconds, everyone's running around.

Despite the team's lack of stamina, everyone was fast. As soon as Hikaru shouted the orders and a few more following it, Hiroto had already thrown the ball to Kudo Michiya, the wingback. Then a connecting pass to Terumi Sakuma. Another pass. The ball landed at Hikaru's foot.

Hikaru dribbled down the center of the field, feigning here and there before passing it to Reiji. Reiji passed to Daisuke and then magic happened. The opposing team had a relatively weak defense which Daisuke and Fubuki easily exploited and a clear opening was made.

The score was 3-2 with a minute remaining. Hikaru could already taste victory, but knew that they must not let their guard slip. He could hear Hiroto calling everyone back and saw Reiji running back to the defense line.

30 seconds remaining. The opponents were now center field.

15 seconds remaining. The opponents were having a hard time with Kazemaru Kazuya, the defensive midfielder. Hikaru rushed to assist.

5 seconds remaining. The opponent broke free.

1 second remaining. Reiji stole the ball.

The buzzer buzzed and the crowd roared. Soon, Hikaru found himself in a sea of sweaty teenage boys cheering and ruffling one another's hair. Not much later, he saw Akari and his grandparents rushing onto the field to celebrate. Hikaru and his teammates were going to the regional quarter finals in two weeks.

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"Ne, Hikaru! Where are we going?"

It was Saturday morning, Hikaru not only woke up early, but he had arrived at Akari's house to wake her up as well. He gave her fifteen minutes to get ready before they head out. When he saw her ready, he grabbed her arm and stormed out the door.

"To learn about Go!" Hikaru shouted the reply even as he was weaving them in and out of the crowds of people.

"What? Hikaru!" Akari was running out of breath. "Hikaru! Slow down!" She tugged at her wrist to stop herself and Hikaru who had taken said wrist.

"Aw. Come on, you're so slow," Hikaru whined, but stopped to let her catch her breath at least.

"Oh gee, sorry I'm not athletic as you!" Akari glared.

"Fine. Fine. Sheesh." Hikaru began to walk away.

"Why do you want to learn about Go anyways?" Akari walked quickly to catch up with the other boy.

"Since the images in my head are about Go, I thought Go or something related to it might be a hint to whatever it is I'm waiting and searching for," Hikaru replied. Who said Hikaru couldn't think? He just wasn't good at thinking about school-related materials. His head leaned back against folded arms as he walked.

"Oh, like maybe who that Pretty Guy might be?"

It had been over a week now since Hikaru's breakdown at the park where he told Akari everything. More images had bombarded him and beside Go, a person appeared quite frequently and always with Go. It was like this person and Go were inseparable. At first Hikaru had thought the person to be a woman with such long luscious plum-colored hair, sparkling amethysts eyes, and a soft delicate face. The person turned out to be a young man probably a decade older than Hikaru's current age. The man wore such strange clothes that reminded Hikaru of ancient times in Japan, perhaps the Hein Era.

Because of his supposed feminine features, Akari had taken to calling the young man 'Pretty Guy'. Akari had assailed Hikaru with numerous questions regarding Pretty Guy. She was just as curious about the pretty person and would love to see the image of Pretty Guy herself to judge.

"Where are we going to find more about Go then?" Akari asked and then something dawned on her. Her face scrunched up when she noticed they were walking past a shady area. She scurried after Hikaru, sticking as close to him as possible so as to not get lost.

"I asked gramps the other day and he said there was a store somewhere nearby that sells Go-related stuff," Hikaru replied, looking left and right for the correct address.

"How did your grandpa take it that you were asking about Go? I mean, you did faint next to one," Akari asked in surprise. From what she and Hikaru gathered, which weren't much, Go is an old man's game that required stones, boards, and sitting for long periods of time. It did not sound fun at all to Akari.

"Oh, they didn't think it was because of the Go board that I fainted."

"Then didn't your grandpa got suspicious when you asked?"

"Well, I went over one evening for dinner 'cause my parents weren't home and gramps had company. He was playing the game with another old geezer so I just told them I was curious and asked them a few questions." It turned out that the two geezers got so excited at the prospect of Hikaru coming to like the intricate game, they rambled on and on. Hikaru managed to get a name for a store from the excited ramblings before slyly excusing himself; his grandma had cookies readied after all!

"Oh." Akari was silent for a few minutes, just following Hikaru turn left or right. "Hey Hikaru?"

"What? Oh, I think we're almost there." Hikaru pointed to a street he saw on the map he was looking at earlier.

"Are they bothering you anymore?" Akari hesitantly asked. She took her lower lip between her teeth as she waits for his response.

"What's bothering me?" Hikaru was a bit preoccupied with trying to not get lost. Unfortunately, navigation wasn't his strong suit either.

"The images."

"They're always bothering me. The other day I blanked out in History class because of it and the stupid teacher saw," Hikaru grumbled. He got called back and given a lecture about paying attention and blah, blah, blah.

Letting the latter half of the reply go, Akari continued, "No, I meant. Do they hurt you, you know. Like are you still scared of them?"

Hikaru stopped walking and considered her question. It wasn't more than a minute that he resumed walking again. He gave a shrug and answered, "Yes and no, both? They seemed harmless enough? I'm kind of curious."

"Oh, that's go-"

"There it is!" Hikaru interrupted. As he point the store out to Akari, he was already grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the store.

The two stood in front of the store called 'Go Prime'. They saw Go boards displayed at the window and looking further into the store, they saw shelves of books and various Go-related items.

"Let's go in," Hikaru exclaimed and without giving Akari a chance to talk, tugged her through the door.

The bell tinkled and jingled as they entered the shop. There was barely light traffic in the shop with two other people beside Akari and Hikaru. From inside, they can see the layout of the store a bit better and were amazed at such a large amount of Go-related stuff.

Akari picked up a beautifully carved wooden clock from a nearby table and admired it. She gently placed it back at the spot where she found it and turned to ask Hikaru what he was looking for. Unfortunately, he was not at her side. Hikaru was already heading towards the cashier with a determined look on his face. _Uh oh_, was Akari's thoughts before she rushed after him, readied for damage control.

"Hey old man, where can I find relevant people in Go?" Hikaru asked.

"Hikaru! Don't be rude," Akari reprimanded almost immediately after and lightly slapped Hikaru's arm. She then turns towards the man behind the counter, bowed, and apologized, "I'm sorry about my friend. We're new to Go and wanted to know about the people related to it."

"Yea, what she said." Hikaru nodded in agreement and felt Akari's fingers found a piece of his flesh and pinched him. "Ouch! What was that for?" All he got was a glare.

The man behind the counter chuckled, clearly amused. "Oh, that's a surprise. Wells, it's always wonderful for children to be interested in the game."

"We're not-" Another pinch. "Ouch! Akari!"

"You can find the history of Go on that shelf near the back of the room. You can find information on past and current title-holders on the wall shelf next to the Go magazines," the older man explained and pointed to the correct spot.

"There's magazine for this old man's-" A third pinch. "What the he-"

"Thank you very much," Akari didn't let Hikaru talked and bowed politely to the man before dragging Hikaru towards the magazines.

"Why were you pinching me?" Hikaru demanded, rubbing the sore spot.

Akari rolled her eyes. "So we don't get kicked out because of your rudeness."

"Wow, look at all these magazines dedicated to Go!" Hikaru exclaimed, amazed. He picked one up to flip through and most of the pages were filled with Go patterns.

"Should we just flip through them until something click for you?" Akari pondered and took one off the shelf for herself. The prospect of spending time flipping magazines without knowing who or what to look for didn't excite Akari one bit.

"Yea, we'll do it for a bit and if there's nothing, we can head towards the sports store down the block. I'm hoping they got some cool soccer items for sale," Hikaru said as he replaced one magazine with another in his hand. He scanned titles and skimmed articles that were featured, but didn't bother looking at the pattern of black and white dots. They didn't make much sense to him anyway so why bother.

The two spent a good fifteen minutes or so on the ground with various magazines stacked and scattered around them. Between the two of them, they managed to work out a system. Akari would flip through the pages looking for pictures of Go players particularly those under 30 or so years old and passed them to Hikaru to see if it rang a bell. Akari couldn't help reading a few short articles and soon found herself admiring how elaborate and complex Go is. Hikaru shared the same sentiments, but he wouldn't be caught actually playing the game otherwise he wouldn't hear the end of it from his gramps.

"I'm getting hungry," Hikaru whined as he rubbed his stomach. The magazine fell off his lap and he made no movement to pick it up. Hikaru leaned back against the wall and gave his eyes a rest.

"Mhm," Akari muttered her consent, albeit a bit distracted; she was about to finish an article. It was like a top ten brightest young players and she was a page away from finding out who number one was. Akari didn't really care about who they were, but she liked reading some of the backgrounds and looking at the pictures. She was a girl after all and Go is quite male-dominant.

Akari's gasp made Hikaru opened his eyes and found his friend intently staring at a page. Hikaru was curious. "What is it?"

"I think I found Pretty Guy," Akari responded, though her tone indicated she was in disbelief.

That certainly jolted Hikaru and he quickly leaned over and there it was, on the corner of the page and only two by two inches, a picture of the same man in Hikaru's images. Despite the difference in the clothing and headpiece or lack thereof, the long hair and soft feminine features was enough for Hikaru to say with certainty that this guy was the one he was searching for. He quickly glanced over to the description and saw what he wanted desperately to know: the name. Fujiwara Sai.

"Sai," Hikaru whispered. The name felt so familiar coming out of his mouth as if he had said it hundreds and thousands of times before.

"Is that really him, Hikaru?" Akari asked, as if she wasn't ready to believe. She glanced up from the page and saw Hikaru's reaction; it stunned her. Hikaru's green eyes were a mixture of emotions, sparkling one moment and dull the next. It was like Hikaru's mind was elsewhere and she was just staring at a shell.

During the past week or so, Akari began observing Hikaru and found herself able to tell when he was being assailed with those images that he had. However, she was never this close to him during those moments and so it left her breathless. _Is there some way to bring him back?_ Akari wondered. Hesitantly, she gave his shoulder a quick shake as she quietly called out to him. "Hikaru?"

Hikaru's mind returned to the present a moment later. He was clearly still astounded. "Wow, I can't believe it. He exists!"

"Fujiwara Sai, a 6th-Dan, had entered the Go world by storm," Akari began to read and Hikaru followed the words with his eyes. "He came out of nowhere and found himself climbing his way to the top. Currently, Fujiwara-san is one of the top competitor for the Honinbo title. He is also a serious contender for the Tengen, Oza, and Kisei. It wouldn't be a surprise if Fujiwara-san won at least one of these titles by the end of next year. Many of his peers had likened Fujiwara-san's Go style to a modernized version of Honinbo Shusaku and you can judge for yourself the likeness of the style below."

The article goes on to describe the likeliness, recount Sai's record, and his future. Hikaru absorbed it all. He now had a name to the face and he needed to know more about this person.

"He sounds amazing," Akari commented as she finished reading aloud. Her impression of Fujiwara-san was that of a gentle beauty, like a butterfly readied to fly away. It was the opposite of her brash friend. How did the man came to haunt Hikaru so?

Hikaru nodded in agreement.

"So what now?" Akari asked as she looked through another magazine. "Even if we have his name, it's still tough to find him in all these magazines."

"I think I'll look him up on the internet," Hikaru replied and sighed, "He's a bit different from the one in my mind, but I want to know more about him."

"Do you- Do you want to meet him?" Akari questioned as she quietly placed the magazines back on the shelf.

"I don't know. Maybe." Hikaru answered honestly. He was still uncertain. It was one thing to look for a person in a magazine or online, but another thing entirely to meet with that person. Even if he met the other man, what could he say? _Oh, I saw you in my visions and wanted to know why? _He'd be thrown into the asylum or something.

"Too much to take in?" Akari was having a difficult time absorbing it as well.

"Yea."

"Why don't we call it a morning and grab some food," Akari suggested. She stood up and dusted off her jeans.

Hikaru instantly perked up at the sound of food. "Ramen!" Hikaru immediately demanded and rushed to stand up as well.

"No way. I just had ramen last night," Akari scrunched her nose and complained.

"So?"

"I want something else."

"But ramen is cheap!" Hikaru countered happily as they walked out the door.

"Then you're treating me," Akari replied with a grin.

"Wha-? Why?"

"Who was the one who woke me up so early today? Who-"

"You were going to wake up early anyways," Hikaru interrupted.

"Who was the one dragging me around the city looking for this store? Who was the one making me help him find Pretty Guy?" Akari continued, corresponding each finger to each question. "Who was the one-"

"Fine fine. But if I'm paying, I'm ordering your food." Hikaru was already imagining the list of items on the menu. Perhaps he can order her something disgusting.

"Oh no you don't. Not this time. I'm getting the same thing you are."

And with that, all thoughts of Fujiwara Sai was momentarily forgotten as the two bickered the whole way to the ramen stand.

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Akira was always known for his patience; he played Go, after all. It's been ingrained in his head as long as he could remember holding a Go stone. The game demanded hours of concentration and patience. Frustration would only hinder logical thinking and reasoning while playing the game and would put the player at a disadvantage. It was strange then that Akira already lost that patience days ago when Ichikawa-san gave him the mysterious boy's bus pass. Akira finally knew the name of the boy who won against him.

That day when the boy ran away, Akira was determined to wait for him to come back, certain that he would. The boy hadn't written his name in the registry, a fact that annoyed Akira because he wanted to know the name of the only person his age who defeated him. When days passed, Akira began to become desperate and constantly asked Ichikawa-san if the boy came by when he wasn't there.

Ichikawa-san finally showed him the item that the boy left: a bus pass. It had the name and picture of the boy: Shindo Hikaru. Akira had almost shouted at Ichikawa-san for waiting this long to pass the card to him, but when he saw her recoiled from his words, he knew he was close to losing his temper.

Even his father and Ogata-san noticed a difference in the young boy who now seemed to spend more time at the Go Salon then at home. And when Akira was at home, he would be cooped up in his room over the Go board, recreating the game. Toya Meijin had taken his son aside and questioned him.

"Is there any reason you seemed distracted lately?" The older Toya asked from across the board. "Your play indicates you're not taking the game seriously."

The two Toya's were playing their nightly game, the one that they've been playing for years now. It was always just after Ogata-san and the others departs, but before bedtime. It was when the Meijin could gouge his son's skills and improvements. For the past week or so, his son seems unable to concentrate on the game before him, as if something else was in his mind.

"I-I'm sorry," Akira responded and then bowed his head. "I resign."

"Ah, so there is a reason. May I ask what it is?" Toya Koyo asked calmly.

"I played a game a while ago at the salon against a boy my age," Akira began. He hadn't want to tell his father about Shindo yet. He wanted to play the boy again to be sure of his skills before he could come to his father.

"Oh?" the Meijin prompted quietly.

"He won by two moku."

"There's nothing wrong with losing when you're playing Shido-go or if it's a handicapped game," the Meijin stated matter-of-factly.

"It was an even game," Akira murmured quietly, so softly that the older Toya needed to strain his ears to hear.

Koyo was silent for the moment, taking in the implications of the words. It seemed unbelievable, but it's not something Akira would say off the cuff and with such a disturbed face. Toya Meijin had always wondered if he had push Akira too hard in Go, thus allowed Akira to isolate himself from the world. His son's skills certainly surpassed many his age and even several pros that are older than him. In several years, he suspect that Akira would play an even match with him. Perhaps because of that, Akira had no rival, someone who'd push and push for Akira to grow and shine.

For years Koyo had antagonized over the lack of challenge for Akira with children his age, but here his son was, telling him that there is a boy out there that can beat him. The elder Toya wondered if this boy will become that rival that his son unknowingly searches for.

"Who is this boy? An insei, perhaps?" The Meijin inquired. He hadn't kept track on the young insei nowadays, but was sure he could request it from Shinoda, the insei master.

"He's not an insei, I asked Shinoda-sensei," Akira replied, unknowingly voicing out the answer to his father's thoughts. How can he begin telling his father about the mysterious Shindo who had an amazing strength behind a deceptive veil?

"I see. Would you like to recreate the game you two played?" The Meijin was curious.

"I-I rather not," Akira replied quietly. He didn't want his father to see the game until he can play Shindo again and understand Shindo's strength if that was what it is.

"Oh?" Koyo couldn't hide his interest, Akira would usually willing to discuss his losses with the older Toya.

"He plays a bit like Fujiwara-san," Akira admitted aloud, allowing this tidbit to slip through. From the various times he replayed the game, it felt like Fujiwara-san was playing Shido-go with him, albeit a slightly weaker Fujiwara-san.

"Fujiwara-san?" The Meijin blinked, surprised. He had the chance to play with the young man several times and Toya Meijin considered him a rival, a thought that the younger man agreed with. Fujiwara came out of nowhere with Shusaku-like skills and dominated the lower dans and Koyo is certain that Fujiwara will dominate the higher dans as well. He is looking forward to playing him for the titles; it's a match he wouldn't miss for anything. The young man with unbelievable skills yet searching for the Hand of God and perhaps something else.

"I think he may have studied Shusaku because Fujiwara-san doesn't have any students," Akira replied. Fujiwara-san would teach and play with everyone, but would never accept any students, a fact that sadden new, upcoming and even existing inseis. Akira had politely inquired and all Fujiwara-san did was smile forlornly before stating he doesn't want any students.

"Is the young man going to become a pro?" If the other boy is on even grounds with his son, the Go world will be welcoming another fearsome youngster.

"I don't know," Akira admitted with a sigh. He didn't really know anything about the other boy and he's desperate to know more.

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_**A/N:** _Akira's hard to write, period.

Another quick disclaimer. There were places where I took words from the manga to incorporate that into the story itself. This won't happen often because I'll get lazy about looking through each volume for the specific scenes I want. Therefore, don't be surprise at the inconsistency.

Also, I only know a few things about soccer, but next to nothing about Go. Apologies.

Next Chapter: Chapter 4 - Soccer and Go


	4. Chapter 4 Soccer and Go

**~ Between Two People ~**

_**A/N: **_Hola. Hola. Been a while! Apologies for the wait, life happened.

Quick note, if you find any mechanical errors and want to correct them, go for it. I'll edit them in the master copy that I have, but probably won't re-upload or re-edit it until I have time (if only there was all the time in the world...).

Without further ado, enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: Do not own Hikaru no Go.

**Summary**: Soccer-loving Hikaru found himself with visions of another world, another life, another Hikaru. As images unfold, Hikaru will find himself searching for Sai, an emerging professional Go player in his world, hoping for answers.

**Chapter 4: Soccer and Go**

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For the week leading up to the regional quarter finals, Hikaru was focused. The team had scheduled an extra hour practice every day after school in addition to the hour and a half that the team already had. There was also another two hour session on weekends. Hikaru was very preoccupied with the training and practices that he didn't have much time to think about Go, Sai, or his visions.

The quarter final game was scheduled on the first Saturday of February. It was held in a nearby city so Hikaru and the team had to take the bus there. Unfortunately for Hikaru, he couldn't find his bus pass which lead to a lecture from the coach and a frantic search for enough money to purchase a temporary pass. They arrived at the game with 10 minutes to spare. With barely enough time for warm-up, the game began.

The opponent, Kaze Lions, is seeded third in the region and Hikaru and his team had lost to them the previous year during the semi-finals. They were hoping to have their revenge this year around. They had re-watch their defeat many times and had trained to improve their weaknesses. Their opponent was a powerful offensive team who aimed to score as many times as possible to cover for their weak defense. Hikaru's team were equal in their offensive and defensive abilities. Thus strong offensive abilities versus so-so defensive abilities meant total annihilation.

The strategy for this game would be focused on strengthening their defenders, but mainly for the midfielders to steal the ball more often. It was going to be a tough match. Hikaru had an even more crucial role in this match, his ball control needs to be mistake-proof.

The game started out fast with Kaze Lions gaining the ball first. The struggle for ball control remained within the center of the field with interceptions and steals. Hikaru and his team were definitely better than the previous year, but the Kaze Lions was as well.

About half an hour into the game, Kaze Lions were bowling down the field with their forward protected by fellow teammates. Reiji and Hikaru were in too deep on their opponent side to fall back in time to aid and so the Kaze Lions took the chance in the weakened defense to score the first goal.

A few minutes after, fueled by revenge, Hikaru and his teammates broke through their opponents' defender and Daiuke evened up the score. With the game being tied, both teams were more cautious.

With fifteen minutes left in the game, the score stilled tied, and both team evenly matched, something different needed to happen. Hikaru got an idea. He called everyone back onto their half of the field leaving only Daiuke and Fubuki on the other side; nine defender and two attackers thereby making their defense impassable. The plan would force the Kaze Lions, who also lacked stamina if the game went to overtime, to bring up their players to attack and break through the barrier. Hikaru was betting the game on stealing the ball and counter-attack.

The Kaze Lions advanced with eight players, but had little effect. They tried advancing with nine players, with everyone evenly marked. Hikaru motioned for his teammates to back off a bit and the Kaze Lions managed to breach the defense zone and probably felt confident that they'll make the goal. It was then that Hikaru shouted for them to charge in and retrieve the ball. After much passes and steals between players on both side, Hibiki managed to protect the ball with his large frame.

It was time for a team offense. When everyone was certain that Hibiki has total control of the ball, they began running down the field towards Daisuke and Fubuki. The Kaze Lions was taken by surprise and the few seconds of confusion was enough for Hikaru and his team to rush through. Soon the ball was being passed between the winger and forward.

The score became 2-1 with ten minute left on the clock. The Kaze Lion were desperate to tie up the game. However, Hikaru and his team were ready. Their previous strategy worked and if they can keep it up, the game is theirs.

The game ended with Hikaru and his teammates advancing to the semi-finals!

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Hikaru couldn't wait until the regional championship is over. He was so sore from all the training which grew intense now that their team had made it to the semi-finals. Last year, they were knocked out of the semi-finals and they didn't want it to happen again. They were aiming for the championship title.

As soon as they defeated the Kaze Lions almost a week ago, there was little rest. There was a small party after the game, but the coach and captain wouldn't let the party continue for long. The team were going to begin their training the following day. Thankfully, the 'training' started with a few hours of watching their opponents games during the tournament.

Their opponent this time, Corce Tigre, is seeded second in the region and are the favorites to win against the number one seed and last year champion, Lance Dane. No one was surprise at the final's potential line-up since whoever created the line-ups put the two team on opposite blocks so that the only way for them to meet would be during the finals.

Corce Tigre, unlike the Kaze Lions, are a defensive team. They'll seek an opportunity for a counterattack through the game, but their main goal is to prevent a goal. So far during the tournament, they had only let one goal through. Hikaru's coach and Hiroto are trying to come up with a play that'll secure the game against such a tough opponent.

With about a week left before the semi-finals, Hikaru was currently on his way towards a different soccer field for practice. The team's usual soccer field had a bad case of gophers. The temporary practice field was far from Hikaru's house which forced him to wake up a bit earlier if he didn't want to be late. Being late for class is one thing, but being late for soccer practice the week before a big game was suicide. He didn't want to do extra laps after an exhausting session.

"Aw, man," Hikaru muttered quietly to himself as he adjusted the bag strap on his shoulder to keep it from slipping.

A flash of black and white caught Hikaru's eyes and he stopped to look at the culprit. It was a poster for a Children Go's Tournament being held all day in the building that Hikaru stopped in front of.

"Hm," Hikaru was curious. "Guess it ain't a geezer's game."

A series of images flashed through his mind.

"Ugh," Hikaru murmured, annoyed. "Guess I'll check it out after practice if I'm still alive by then." With soccer day in and day out along with trying not to flunk his classes, Hikaru had been ignoring Go and the images in his head. He doesn't mind the images as much as the emotions that would randomly flood him. And currently, he felt guilt.

About three hours later...

"Argh, stupid Reiji," Hikaru muttered darkly, rubbing his left arm. During a practice game, Reiji had refused to follow Hikaru's calls and thus caused an accident involving legs, arms, and falling. Hikaru was sure that there would be a bruise on his left arm by tomorrow morning.

"Hm, I'm sure it was around here somewhere," Hikaru glanced left and right trying to find the Go event with his hand shading his eyes from the hot afternoon sun.

_Thud!_

Hikaru was too busy looking around to notice that he had walked right into someone and the impact made Hikaru stumbled backwards and the bag on his shoulder fell. As he reached down to grab his bag, someone spoke.

"Watch where you're going punk." The gruff and annoyed voice came from the other person.

Hikaru scowled at the rude tone. He glanced up and saw a man in a white suit with a cigarette hanging from his lips and sunglasses over his eyes.

"You were the one in the middle of the sidewalk," Hikaru barked back. It was at that moment, several images passed through his head of the same man in the white suit. _Oh man, seriously? _Hikaru thought and refrained from groaning. He couldn't believe the older man was in his visions as well. Hikaru prayed that the man in the white suit wasn't anyone important in his visions like Sai because Hikaru don't think he'll like this man much; there was something with the other man's aura that made Hikaru shuddered.

"- fault."

"What?" Hikaru realized that the man in the white suit had said something while the images were playing.

"Never mind. Just watch where you're going next time, kid," the man in the white suit proclaimed and began walking away.

Hikaru watched the other man walk away and realized that he was walking straight towards the Children's Go Tournament. _I'm here, so might as well_, Hikaru thought and wait a few seconds before following the other man into the building.

Hikaru almost gasped as he stepped into the enormous hall where dozens of children were playing Go while their parents were watching from the side, urging their child on. Certain matches had quite a number of spectators while others had one or two. The air was so tense with concentration from the players to the spectators; it felt like one of Hikaru's soccer matches, just a lot quiet.

Hikaru was amazed at how young these children were, many were younger than him! He spotted the nearest table to him and something flashed in his eyes. He recognized that it was the game currently being played. Hikaru blinked and felt he understood how the game was going. The boy who had the black stone placed it on the board and Hikaru noticed that the boy played a stone below where Hikaru knew he should.

"Oh, so close! You should have gone right above that." Hikaru spoke before he realized he did.

"Huh? Oh.."

_Crap. _Hikaru realized his mistake when everyone turned to look at him, including the young player. Hikaru tried to inch back and leave the way he came, but there were people beginning to crowd around him.

"Hey you!" The voice belonged to a dark-haired man who clasped his hand on Hikaru's shoulder in a vice grip.

"What are you thinking? Interfering with a match, this is a serious event." The same man scolded despite Hikaru apologizing to him.

"Mori-san, calm down." A familiar voice called from behind.

Hikaru looked up and saw the same man in the white suit and wished the ground would open and swallowed him up. _Damn Go, _Hikaru thought darkly.

"Ogata-sensei, I'm taking him to the back." The man called Mori-san stated as he took a firm hold of Hikaru's wrist and began dragging him to the opposite direction of the exit.

"Let go of me or I'll scream," Hikaru threatened, tugging on his wrist. He just spoke up, it can't be that big of a crime, could it? He didn't need to get in trouble here if he can help it. He didn't want to be suspended from the team because he got in trouble. "Let me go. It was an accident."

"Be quiet, you," the man in the white suit who Hikaru assume is Ogata-sensei said before turning to the two kids at the table and asked, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I put my stone here and that kid says 'so close, you should have gone right above it'." The boy who placed the stone replied, pointing to the corner.

"This..." Ogata-sensei muttered.

"Geeze, what's the big deal anyway?" Hikaru asked, exasperated and still unable to free his hand away. Everyone was so serious. A woman in the crowd, who Hikaru guessed to be the mother of one of the boy was frowning and giving Hikaru the death glare. More people were tuning in to figure out what was going on.

"Why you-!"

"How dare you just speak up like that after looking for a second and ruin my son's game?" the woman finally spoke up and pointed at Hikaru accusingly.

"What, you said he only took a quick look?" Ogata-sensei asked, stunned. He looked back down at the pattern and scowled.

"Man, you guys are nuts. I said I'm sorry already." Hikaru exclaimed, finally managing to wrestle his wrist away from the dark-haired man. The man gave him a glare, but Hikaru didn't care. He had to find some way to get out.

More and more people were gathering and whispering to one another. Hikaru took the chance at the crowd and squeezed his way through before high-tailing it out of there. He heard a variety of different voices calling for him to stop running or come back, but he wasn't going to be an idiot and stay where he'll get into trouble. He took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw the official guys were trying, and failing, to make their way through the crowd.

"Once again, I'm sorry!" Hikaru shouted and gestured back, hoping that those words would be enough.

Though Hikaru was confident of his running abilities, he didn't think he can run that long since soccer practice had already taken a chunk of his energy. Hikaru ran until he was sure that nobody was following him before stopping to catch his breath.

"Man, these Go people are crazy," Hikaru huffed and mumbled to himself and looked behind him again to make sure that he wasn't followed.

Even though the soccer team had went to lunch after practice, Hikaru was hungry again. He wondered if his mother might have some leftover lunch he can have. With that in mind he went home, determined not to think too much about the earlier incident.

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Ogata Seiji regretted not grabbing a hold of the punk with blond-dyed bangs himself. At first glance, Ogata thought that the boy didn't belong at the event and only entered because he was curious. He was wearing a bright yellow shirt with the number five on it and soccer shorts. Ogata can guess that the bag the boy was carrying had sports equipment in it.

Ogata was currently looking over the game that the kid ruined and he couldn't believe that the kid was able to solve a problem like this in just a glance. Even as a pro, it took him a second or third glance to be able to solve.

"Sounds like we had some trouble." A voice came from the doorway.

"Oh, Toya Meijin. Take a look at this." Kakimoto-sensei called and pointed to the goban with the recreated game.

"Even a pro would need a moment to think to solve this situation. A boy just took a quick peek and saw it," Ogata explained as the Meijin walked over to look at the board.

"He looked just like a punk that I didn't even thought..." Kakimoto trailed off. Everyone in the room that witnessed the spectacle were also thinking the same.

"To notice instantly the move to defeat the opponent. I didn't think there could be a kid other than Akira that could do something like this," Ogata said and sighed. "We didn't even get a name."

"Hm, I wonder..." Toya Meijin stared at the board and contemplated Ogata's comments. Perhaps this boy was the one that Akira played?

"Sensei?"

"No matter, if he's as good as we think, we'll see him in the Go world," Toya Meijin stated. He hoped for the sake of Akira that his words were true.

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_**GGOOOAAALLLLL!**_

The announcer screamed. The audience in the stand erupted in screams and shouts of their own. After all, it was the first and probably last goal of the game since there's only five minutes left.

Hikaru soaked in the crowds' cheers as he ran towards the person who scored. Fubuki did it! If they can keep the opponent from scoring in the next five minutes, the game was theirs and they could avoid overtime.

Five minutes later, with victory assured and the finals in another two weeks, Hikaru and his teammates went crazy jumping over and into one another, cheering and screaming. It was an extremely tough and concentration-dense game.

The coach had decided to strengthen their defensive plays even more which initially confused most of the players on the team. The Corce Tigre played defensively so shouldn't they be going offensive to defeat them? The coach, captain, and Hikaru came together and saw that offensive plays were typical so they were going to try for a different way. It was risky and required everyone to be on guard at any moment. They were going to imitate Corce Tigre's game-play.

Fubuki and Daisuke were ready at any moment for a counter attack while the rest of the team aimed to prevent a goal. The match became a game of back and forth with interceptions and missed shots. Both teams' defense were in top form. With minutes left on the clock, Hikaru and his team need to make a counter attack as soon and as efficient as possible otherwise they would be forced into overtime.

Corce Tigre were probably thinking the same and grew more aggressive in their plays leaving a few holes in their defense. Hikaru managed to hold them off and stole the ball before calling out for their counter attack. This was probably their only chance for the goal and everyone on the team knew that. With the weakened defense, Fubuki managed to score with an assist from Daisuke.

"Let's go celebrate!" an excited voice shouted.

The game was long over and the audience had left. The players were walking out of the locker room heading towards the bus to head home. It would be around dinner time by the time they get back to their school and thus everyone agreed that they should go get dinner and celebrate.

"Man, I can't believe that it came down to the wire," Hikaru said and stretched his arms over his head to rid of a few kinks in the shoulder.

"They're not seeded second for no reason," Reiji responded beside Hikaru.

"It's also a bit of luck. They rushed it at the end," Hiroto said from the other side of Hikaru.

"Well, luck is a skill," Hikaru replied with a silly grin on his face and flashed a peace sign.

"Only-"

"Shindo?"

Hikaru turned around towards the voice and saw someone unexpected. It was the boy from the Go Salon that one time. The other boy was dressed quite formally with his slacks and purple dress shirt, a stark contrast to Hikaru's messy appearance. He tried to remember the name, but the euphoria of going to the finals overwhelmed everything else. "Oh, it's you. Err... You're..."

"Toya Akira," Touya supplied readily, "It is you then. I want to have another match."

"Match? What's he talking about, Hikaru? We're already super exhausted from the one we had today," Reiji asked from the sidelines and looked between Hikaru and the other boy in confusion. The boy name Touya Akira looked way too fragile to be playing soccer.

"Uh, it's complicated," Hikaru said to Reiji before turning back to Toya, curious. "What are you doing here?"

"There is an event nearby," Toya answered as if that would explain everything, but his face was determined, "I want a match."

"A match is-"

Hikaru was interrupted midway by Kudo calling out to him. "Hikaru, hurry up. We need to go. Everyone's hungry!"

"Yea, we're coming." Reiji shouted back and turned to grab Hikaru's arm to head off. "Come on."

"Sorry, but not now. We're going to go celebrate our victory!" Hikaru announced to the other boy with an apologetic grin. With that said, Hikaru quickly followed Reiji back to the bus where his other teammates were waiting. To be honest, Hikaru was somewhat relieved of the way out. He didn't want to deal with Touya at the moment. It's too troublesome.

"Wait, -"

Hikaru turned and saw Toya ran after him and shouted something out, but he couldn't hear it from the loud excitement everyone on the bus had. All he could do was give a helpless shrug to the other boy before boarding the bus. Hikaru saw Toya's look of frustration and disappointment and Hikaru thought the other boy was silly; after all, it was only a Go match.

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Two weeks later...

The air on the bus was thick with despair and regret. Hikaru felt defeated. Everyone around him felt defeated. They had just lost their chance at the Regional Championship to the Lance Dane. They were so close! They came so far!

By the time the clock ran out, both teams were tied 1-1 and they had to go overtime. It was there that Lance Dane trounced Hikaru and his teammates by scoring a quick goal thus winning by 2-1. Hikaru and his team knew their stamina wasn't the best and they did trained to be better, but all the training, the sweat, and the exhaustion just wasn't enough.

Silence reigned during the bus ride on their way home as everyone reminisce on how close they were to becoming number one. It was heartbreaking and the coach knew his team needed some time to reflect.

The bus stopped at their school and everyone filed out in silence, eyes downcast, and body slumped over.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" the captain and goalkeeper shouted and all heads slowly looked up and face Hiroto.

"We had time to wallow in our loss," Hiroto began loudly and calmly.

Hikaru knew that as goalkeeper, Hiroto was probably the one that felt the most responsible for their loss because he didn't manage to protect the goal during overtime.

"But it's over and we need to look forward to the future. We had a great time, everyone was awesome. Your pass today was cool-looking, Kudo. Your insight was amazing, Hikaru. And Fubuki, that goal? Wow. And-" Hiroto continued, looking from person to person. It seemed to slightly cheered the players up.

"And you too Hiroto. All those saves!" Hikaru shouted excitedly when Hiroto finished down the line. Everyone pitched in a "yea" or "awesome" for their captain and proud faces beamed up at Hiroto.

"You guys..." Hiroto looked from grinning face to grinning face and his own face lit up as well. "We were pretty amazing today, weren't we?"

"Damn right we were!" Reiji hollered out and a cheer of consensus followed.

"There's always next year," Hiroto continued as the cheers died down. He turned to Fubuki, "You lead them to that championship next year."

"Aw captain, don't get sappy on us!" Fubuki answered, but a smile was hard to hide.

"Fine, fine. This might be my last chance saying this, but I had fun as your captain. Reiji, Hikaru and I will graduate come Spring, but you guys, do your best!" Hiroto said with a fond smile.

"You guys make us proud to say you were our upperclassmen too!" Daisuke, the soon to be vice captain, called out.

"Can we get food now?" Everyone knew which person the question was from. Hikaru just stood at the side, grinning sheepishly with his hands rubbing his tummy as his teammates turned to him. "What? Losing makes me hungry?"

"Everything makes you hungry!" Terumi grabbed Hikaru around the neck in a chokehold, "We're going to miss our excuse to eat next year."

"Alright, how about we go party before we have to study for the exams?" Kudo spoke up and everyone groaned. "What? What did I say?"

"Don't remind us about the exam!" Hibiki rolled his eyes, not surprised that the wingback, also quite book-smart was worried about the exams.

In about two weeks, the end of the year exams will be held and afterwards, it was time for graduation. Hikaru will probably not see many of his teammates before graduation except for Reiji who was in a few of his classes.

Starting in April, Hikaru and Reiji will be heading for Kaio while Hiroto had to move to another city, thereby starting school far away. However, the soon-to-be-former captain promised that he'll take his team and see Hikaru and Reiji at the country's championship.

Beside Reiji, Hikaru will have Akari accompanying him to Kaio. Akari's academics was high enough to get accepted into Kaio. Hikaru would never tell Akari that he was glad to have her support during Junior High as well otherwise she'd hold it against him.

_But first, exams. _Hikaru groaned at the thought. The next two weeks or so will be hell.

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It's been about three months since Akira first met the boy with the blond-dyed bangs and his first loss to someone his age. During the first month after the boy's sudden appearance, Shindo didn't come back to the salon and Akira knew nothing more about Shindo then his name and his skills.

Akira had started wondering if the person and the match had been a fragment of his imagination that he somehow created, but Ichikawa-san had been there and the bus pass he held onto proved that the mysterious boy was real. He does exists.

His father and the other professionals that come by his home on a daily occurrence were pressuring him to enter the pro world. Akira was hesitant and unsure; if there was someone out there that could defeat him, he wasn't prepared enough to go into the pro exam. He found himself wanting to defeat the other boy as proof that he was ready for the Go world.

A while ago, his father had, after their nightly game, laid out a game in progress and asked Akira to solve a situation. Akira had glanced at his father in askance, only to receive an urging stare before looking over the game. He noticed that the level of the person who played the game was probably not a pro; as a matter of fact, their skills weren't near his own either.

_"Father?" Akira asked again, in confusion._

_"If you were black, where would you play next," the Meijin simply said._

_Akira looked down again and searched for an answer. It took him quite a long moment, but he managed to find the answer. He took a black stone between his forefinger and middle finger and placed the stone down at 1-2. _

_"Hm, I see it took you quite a while to see that too," the Meijin commented, arms crossed in front of his chest as he bends over slightly to see where the stone was placed._

_"I apologize, my skills aren't-"_

_"No, no. I expected as much," the older Toya waved away his son's concern. _

_"Is there a reason you showed this to me, father?" Akira asked. The situation was a bit tricky and it took him a while to play his hand, but it wasn't anything too difficult._

_"The other boy solved it with just a glance," the Meijin stated and stared directly at Akira, gauging a reaction._

_Akira froze. "The other boy?"_

_"Yes, this morning at the Children's Go Tournament, a boy came and disrupted the game by pointing out that spot aloud and he did it with just a peek at the game."_

_Akira glanced back down at the board. _With a glance? _Akira thought and something akin to excitement overcame him. "Did he have blond bangs?"_

_"Hm, Ogata-san mentioned that he did. Is he the boy you're looking for?" the Meijin inquired. If so, the other boy's skills were great indeed and he can see how Akira could've lost. He was now more curious to play the boy himself._

_"Yes!" Akira almost shouted and risen in his seat. He saw his father's slightly alarmed face before he realized his outburst. "I'm sorry. It' just..." Akira had so many questions to ask. Did they find out who the boy was? Was his skills that amazing? Akira went with the first question._

_"No, unfortunately, the boy ran away before Ogata-san or Mori-san could get much out of him."_

_Akira was almost sure that it was Shindo that they were talking about. _He seems to like running off after making a commotion. _Akira thought wryly._

_"Will you be taking the pro exam this year?" the older Toya asked._

_"I- I don't know yet," Akira admitted._

_"The boy you're waiting for, if he's as good as that, I'm sure it won't be long until he enters the pro Go world. You can wait for him there." _

After talking with his father, Akira decided to take the upcoming pro exam in the Fall. He was going to use summer break to prepare himself for it. Summer break was still a few months away and he needed to get through school first.

It was the first week at Kaio Junior High and the principal had coerced Akira into taking a look at the school's Go club. Kaio boasts one of the strongest Go club in the region and their fame would increase if Toya Akira, son of the great Toya Meijin and prodigy in his own right, would become a member. Akira knew this, but there was no way that he could deny the principal's request. So he had to endure a tour of the Go club facilities with Yun-sensei who is in charge of the school's Go club.

"I'm sorry Yun-sensei, but I'm planning to take the pro exam and I won't have time to engage in much activities outside of that," Akira replied to Yun-sensei's urge for him to join the club.

The principal wouldn't have none of that. "I understand, but if you could just drop by every now and then, it would- oof" The principal collided with someone when they turned the corner.

"Are you alright?" Yun-sensei asked as he helped stabilize the principal.

"Geeze, what the heck?" the other voice groaned.

Akira blinked. He couldn't believe it. "Shindo Hikaru?"

"Huh? Oh, wow. Small world," Shindo replied when he saw that Toya was wearing the same uniform he was. He rubbed a sore spot on his head that took the burnt during the collision.

"Why are you running in the hallway, young man?" the principal asked, the jolly face that he gave Akira before gone, replaced with a stern and irritated one.

"I wasn't running," Shindo denied and hurriedly looked around for something. "Anyone know what time it is?"

"It's a little pass 3 o'clock," Yun-sensei replied and showed Shindo his watch.

"Oh man. I'm late for club practice!" Shindo grimaced and was about to bolt when Toya suddenly grabbed his wrist to prevent him.

"Club? You're in the Go club?" Toya asked, not noting that he was being rude to the principal and Yun-sensei for ignoring them. If Shindo was in the Go club then maybe he should -

"What? There's a Go Club? I'm in the Soccer Club!" Shindo announced and tried to wiggle his wrist away from the other boy. _What is with Go player and grabbing my wrist?_ Hikaru thought with a scowl remembering the incident weeks ago.

"Soccer club?" Toya blinked in surprise and his hands loosened enough that Shindo could get away.

"And I'm late!" Shindo exclaimed and ran passed Toya.

"No running in the hall!" the principal called after, but Shindo had already turned another corner.

"Do you know the other boy?" Yun-sensei asked.

"I-I. Not really. I'm sorry, but I have to go," Toya said, still confused. All he knew was that he wasn't going to let Shindo run away again. He bowed to Yun-sensei and the principal before running after Shindo with an 'Excuse me.' to the adults.

"No runn- Oh nevermind," the principal sighed. If such a polite student as Toya Akira was running through the hallway..

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_**A/N: **_Welps, there you have it. Akira, a little out of character? Probably, but my defense is desperation breeds OOC-ness. This chapter was kind of a pain to write and quite rushed.

A lot of the soccer terms I use are from the internet (so please correct me if I'm completely off the mark) since I only know the name of only few play styles and positions.

It seems each chapter is getting longer. Coincidence? Yes, pretty much so don't expect much.

Next Chapter: Chapter 5 - NetGo and _Light _(?)

You won't see the next chapter til maybe early January - if lucky. Winter holidays are usually a super busy time for me (and probably you guys as well). So I hope you all have a wonderful ending to 2012 and I'll see you guys next year!


	5. Chapter 5 NetGo and Light

**~ Between Two People ~**

_**A/N: **_Xin chao. Xin chao. It's been a while, now it's a brand new year! I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday season!

Whoever says that the holiday season is a good time to relax and sleep needs to be me during that period. It's the most exhausting time; fun, but exhausting. Therefore, I took a two week hibernation period which is why this chapter is only coming out now.

Also a bit late in saying so, but THANK YOU very much for all the comments (and any errors had been fixed on the 'master copy' which would be re-uploaded when I completely edit it).

**Disclaimer**: Alas, I own nothing. Hikaru No Go is not mine.

**Chapter 5: NetGo and **_**Light**_

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Akari flicked her wrist and checked her watch for the third time in the last fifteen minute. Akari sighed. She knew she should expect it. Hikaru was definitely not known for being on time. It was still their first week of school and Hikaru, predictably, joined the soccer club. Akari had been recruited to the Home Economics Club with her female friend that also got accepted into Kaio. Both Hikaru and her club activities ended around the same time so they decided to walk home together. Kaio Junior High is a bit further of a walk home then their previous school and honestly, Akari didn't want to walk home alone.

Akari checked her watch again and saw no sign of Hikaru coming out of the locker room by the field. She leaned back against the school gate and gave another sign. The school is relatively empty now that class has been over. The students in clubs had scattered out of the building several minutes ago and headed home.

Akari had noticed another boy waiting on the other side of the entrance, seemingly waiting for someone as well. The other boy looked pretty, Akari decided. His chin-length hair looked smooth and well-cared for. Akari looked down at her own hair and scrunched up her face at the split ends.

"Akari!"

Akari looked up and saw Hikaru waving and running towards her. She pushed herself off the wall and walked towards him. From the corner of her eye, she saw the other boy do the same. _Perhaps he's tired of waiting? _Akari thought momentarily, only sparing him a brief glance.

"Hikaru! You're late!" Akari scolded, jabbing his elbow when she reached him.

"It's not my fault, new players had to do clean up," Hikaru groaned at the thought. He couldn't wait until next year when he has seniority.

"When is the try-outs?"

"Next week, but it's just for appearance sakes, Coach Terusa already had people in mind," Hikaru replied and stretched his arms above his head.

"You-"

"You're not running away this time." A voice stated from behind Akari. She turned and found the boy standing on the other side of the gate earlier almost glaring at Hikaru. He was waiting for Hikaru? Why?

"Man, I see you everywhere," Hikaru muttered underneath his breath, loud enough that Akari who was standing next to him could hear.

"Let's go have a match," the prim-looking boy insisted, approached Hikaru, grabbed his wrist despite Hikaru's protest, and dragged him towards the school building.

"Hey, what are you doing to Hikaru!?" Akari shouted over Hikaru's own objection as she followed them. For a boy that looked delicate, he seemed to have a tough grip on Hikaru's wrist that Hikaru couldn't get out of regardless of the tugging.

"Hikaru, who's this person?" Akari asked, annoyed. They were going to get scolded if they didn't head home soon.

"Ugh. That guy I played Go with that one day," Hikaru leaned his neck back and explained. He looked back towards the back of Toya's head and groaned. _Go players are so serious and scary_, Hikaru thought. Now what was he going to do?

"Here we are," Toya said as he slid a door open and pulled Hikaru in.

Akari peeked from behind the door before stepping inside. The room was relatively big and clean. She noted that it was filled with Go boards and other Go-related items that she saw when she went with Hikaru to the Go store. _It's probably the Go club_, Akari thought as she looked around the room.

"What are we doing here?" Akari asked out loud.

"Play Go," Toya replied. He pulled a chair out and motioned for Hikaru to sit down.

"Are you going to let go of me now?" Hikaru asked, staring at his wrist.

"Only if you promise not to run out again," Toya answered in all seriousness. He wasn't taking his chances. If need be, he would play the game while holding the other boy's wrist.

"Fine, fine." Hikaru rolled his eyes. He rubbed his wrist when Toya let go and went to the other side of the Go board and sat down.

"Nigiri," Toya said a few seconds later.

"What?" Hikaru asked, confused.

"Nevermind, you take black," Toya said, his tone betrayed his impatience.

"You're serious?" Hikaru blinked and stared at the other boy. It was getting late, he didn't have time for this.

"Yes."

The determined gaze that Toya gave Hikaru send a shiver down his spine. Toya looked like Hikaru and his teammates when they're on the field, readied to take on their opponent. The only difference was Toya was so serious, so straight-laced that Hikaru questioned if the other boy was having fun playing Go.

"Fine, but we need to make it fast," Hikaru agreed. He couldn't well tell the other boy he didn't know the game or the match they previously had was some out of this world event. It'll be okay if he puts the stone randomly and lose, right? Then, the other boy won't look for him anymore.

Akari looked confused standing beside the table staring at the empty board and the two boys sitting in front of said board. "Hikaru?"

"Just a bit, Akari. Go sit somewhere or do your homework or something," Hikaru shooed and after a moment of hesitation, grabbed the stone between his forefinger and thumb and placed it on a star.

Toya's eyes sharpened at the move before grabbing a white stone and placing it next to Shindo's. _Finally_, Toya thought. He can finally gauge this other boy's skills. He can have that rematch.

Minutes passed and Shindo placed stones down without much hesitation. However, every so often, Toya became confused. Shindo's hands were strange, sporadic, and made no sense. One moment, the two were engaged in a battle for the corner and the next moment, Shindo would make a play for the middle. Toya didn't feel any of the pressure he felt from the first game they played together.

Fifty or so hands in, Toya sat back and glanced at the board, still unsure what Shindo was planning with his plays. Shindo had just made a really poor move that all, but gave the game up. _Was Shindo toying with him? _Toya thought. He glanced up at his opponent, expecting a face similar to the first time they played, a haunting look that said Toya was out of his elements. However, what he saw was a small grin. Toya wanted to grab his hair in frustration.

A minute later, after a hesitant placement of the stone that would extend his advantage from the middle, Toya leaned back against the chair and momentarily rest his eyes, certain that Shindo would take more than a few seconds to play his hand.

No more than a second passed before Toya heard the _klak _of the stone hitting the Go board. Alarmed, Toya immediately sprung up and suddenly the pattern on the Go board dawned on him. He glanced back at Shindo to see an opening grinning face. Toya grew outraged. _How dare he disrespect the game like that!_ Toya mentally screamed. How dare the other boy make fun of him like that?

Toya slammed his fist down beside the Go board loud enough to catch Shindo's attention as well as Shindo's friend who was sitting nearby. "Are you mocking me, Shindo!?"

"Wow, took you a while," Hikaru said instead of answering the question. Hikaru looked down at the board again, "I was running out of body parts."

"How dare you!? What-"

"Geeze, calm down," Hikaru said, holding up his hands in front of him as a shield when he noted the other boy looked crossed enough to perhaps commit murder? _Perhaps after a rant or scolding_, Hikaru mentally added.

"What is wrong with you?!" Toya all, but shouted. He felt lightheaded with fury and rage. Toya couldn't remember the last time he felt this much vehemence towards another person.

"Me?" Hikaru pointed to himself and asked, surprised. "More like what's wrong with you. You're so serious!"

"How can I not be serious?" Toya countered, "It's not everyday I get a chance to have a match with the only person my age who won against me."

"Wow, conceited much," Hikaru whistled under his breath.

"Argh, no, that's not what I meant," Toya was so distracted and mad that he couldn't think straight. "Oh forget it."

"Why are you so serious all the time?" Hikaru asked, curious. Being serious all the time seemed to be tiring so why would anyone do it? _Though it may be just Go players_, Hikaru thought as he remembered the Children's Go Tournament event.

"Unlike you," Toya pronounced 'you' with such venom, "I'm aiming to become a pro."

"A pro?" Hikaru knew that there were professional Go players from the Go magazines that he read, but he didn't know that children can be a pro. "But you're a kid?"

"There's no age limit. It only matters if you passed the Go exam or not," Toya replied, a bit taken back that the boy didn't know anything about it.

"Hm, Go pro, huh. Maybe I'll give that a try when I have time," Hikaru commented, mainly to himself. Maybe he should actively look for Sai amongst the pro players soon. Hikaru wondered if Toya would take him to Sai when he passed his Go exam. _I mean, how can he not pass, with him being so serious about it all the time, _Hikaru thought.

"Go... have time? What gives you the right to look down on Go pro's like that! It's not easy to become one. It takes hard work! And you think you can become one during your free time?" Toya raged. His vision was almost clouded with red and his whole body shook in silent fury. He was so disappointed! This boy was _nothing _like he imagined.

"Huh, what? I think you-" Hikaru began, attempting to clear up the misunderstanding. He didn't want to become a pro; he didn't even know the game much!

"This is a waste of time," Toya interrupted. He grabbed his bag and started for the door. He stopped at the doorframe and turned around to find Shindo and his friend looking at him in confusion. Toya bitterly ground out, "I mistook you, Shindo."

Hikaru watched the other boy disappeared behind the closed door, confused.

"He seemed pretty upset," Akari commented as she walked over to Hikaru. "What did you do?"

"Heck if I know. Oh, l-"

"You made a face out of the stones?!" Akari interrupted when she looked down at the Go board.

"Huh? Oh yea, isn't it neat?" Hikaru proclaimed with pride.

"Oh, Hikaru," Akari sighed and shook her head.

"What?"

Akari exhaled noisily as she tried to think of a way to explain it to Hikaru. "Okay, so imagine you played a soccer game against Reiji Saito-san and Hibiki Hitomiko-san. It's just a practice match, but everyone was told to play a real game. However, Saito-san was just joking around the entire time, how would you feel?"

"Annoyed. Reiji does that every now and then," Hikaru responded, "Did I tell you that one-"

"Yes, so don't repeat that story again, I'm so tired of it," Akari cut short.

"Well, it's-"

"Anyway," Akari interrupted loudly, "That's exactly how that other boy is feeling with you just joking around."

"It's not the same!" Hikaru countered, "Go is just a silly game, soccer is a sport!"

Akari stared, blinked, and stared again in disbelief. "Oh please, soccer is a game too."

"No it's not, you can make a living out of it!" Hikaru responded hotly.

"And couldn't you become a pro in Go too? What's the difference?" Akari rebuffed. She liked the Hikaru that loved to play soccer and felt envious of him for finding something he's passionate about. But sometimes, that love for soccer blinds him to everything else.

Hikaru was silent. He disliked people who saw soccer as a game and brush it off. _Like I did with Go_, Hikaru thought and mentally groaned. He became one of those people. "Fine, fine, I'll respect Go and stuff."

"Good," Akari grinned and felt accomplished. She then began taking the Go stones off their board and into their correct colored-bowls. "Now, let's clean up and head home. We're already pretty late. If my mom asks, I'm blaming you."

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Hikaru was ecstatic! He made it onto the team, albeit as a substitute. However, he did managed to beat out dozens of his sempai's to get on the roster. The coach had divided the twenty-two people on the roster into two teams, with a mixture of regulars and substitutes on both sides. They were going to have their first real practice match.

Hikaru was on the same side as Reiji and they were able to acquire the same positions they normally played, central midfield and sweeper respectively. The captain, an attacking midfielder, was also on their side. Hikaru was excited. He had seen the captain practiced with last year's regulars and he was amazed at the skills everyone shown.

"Fall back!"

"Offense! Offense!"

It wasn't even two minutes into the game yet before a conflict broke out. The captain had called the former while Hikaru yelled out the latter. There was a moment of chaos when voices broke out afterwards.

"Time out!" The captain signaled to the coach who blew the whistle.

"Yo, new kid, what do you think you're doing?" The captain demanded immediately after everyone froze.

"Wada-sempai should be on the offensive, Tai-sempai would've been able to steal the ball," Hikaru answered.

"Hey captain, is this kid serious?" A nearby voice called out in annoyance.

"I need to make something clear. I don't know how it was with your old team, but on this team, either the coach or the captain gets to call the shots," the captain explained, loud enough for the whole field to hear so as to shut down others who have similar ideas.

Hikaru could hear whispers from all around him, but he could only focused on his own confusion. He was going to raise his opinion, however, he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. Reiji was standing behind him and giving him a slight shake of his head before whispering for Hikaru to drop it. Hikaru resisted the urge to shrug the advice and speak up, but it was then he noticed all the stares pointed his way. After a quick inhale, he nodded towards the captain.

The game resumed with the captain calling the shots and Hikaru feeling a bit irritated. There were a few miss chances that Hikaru saw from those calls and he was tempted to do his own way when the calls were directed towards him.

Practice was over after the practice match and on his way to the locker room, Reiji stopped Hikaru.

"Hey, let's go get food afterwards," Reiji asked while fanning himself with his shirt.

"Yum, food!" Hikaru exclaimed, excited. Because of the try-outs and practice match, practice ended later then usual and knowing that, Hikaru had told Akari to not wait for him. Luckily Reiji wanted dinner, he was starving! Reiji was a fellow ramen-lover therefore Hikaru was sure where they were going for food.

Hikaru met up with Reiji outside of the locker room and with their bags slung over their shoulder, the two of them walked towards the nearest ramen food stall, two blocks away from their school. While walking, they talked about their classes, of which they had three together, and the excitement of being chosen on the team.

"Can we get two bowl of your special ramen!?" Hikaru ordered before he even sat down at the counter. Reiji took the seat to his right and readily took out the utensils from a nearby basket.

"I wonder how Hiroto is doing," Reiji thought aloud during the wait.

"We should let him know we made it onto the team!"

"Mm," was all Reiji said.

Hikaru noticed a slight passivity from his friend and fellow teammate. Reiji didn't seem as excited to be on the team as Hikaru thought. He wo-

"You know, Hikaru. Back on our old team, with Hiroto, Fubuki, and everyone else, it was fun, wasn't it?" Reiji said, unknowingly interrupting Hikaru's thoughts.

"Of course and we were good too!" Hikaru announced proudly.

"Hiroto and I don't say it often, but you shone very brightly on our team, you know that?"

"Wait, what? Is that a compliment from the great Reiji?" Hikaru joked and was in a state of disbelief, Reiji was being unusually non-argumentative.

Reiji rolled his eyes.

"Brightly, how?" Hikaru scrunched his nose at the word.

"You were like this light that guided everyone, a very bright light that's always alive and moving. We followed your calls during games, didn't we? It meant we trust you to guide us because honestly, you shine brighter than everyone else on the team. Hiroto and I just didn't want to tell you otherwise your ego would be ridiculous!"

"I don't know if you're fishing for compliments, Reiji, but you were the best player on our team. Everyone knew that," Hikaru replied, perplexed. His eyes squinted in suspicion.

The ramen arrived, steaming hot. The smell drifted by and it was wonderful. However, Hikaru's attention was still towards Reiji.

"In terms of techniques, sure," Reiji responded. He unabashedly began eating, not bothered by Hikaru's stares. "Aren't you going to eat?"

Hikaru turned his attention towards his own bowl of ramen and his hunger got the best of him. He could grill Reiji after the food.

"Your ability to predict people's moves and assess their skills is wicked good. You improve so fast, too," Reiji continued the conversation.

"But you always shout at me!" Hikaru responded.

"I didn't want you to get a big head," Reiji replied and rolled his eyes.

"Why are you acting so weird, anyways?" Hikaru finally managed to ask the question that he has been dying to ask ever since practice ended. This Reiji was being too philosophical.

Reiji avoided the question by continuing his train of thought. "You don't shine on our current team, Kaio's team. Your light is overshadowed."

"You mean like what happened during practice? That I can't call the shots?" Hikaru said and cringed while remembering. "But I'll be able to once they see what I can do and if I ask them, right?"

Reiji hesitated a bit before slowly shaking his head. "Unless you become the captain, which may be a possibility next year or something."

"Oh," Hikaru couldn't remember the last time he didn't call the shots, it was a strange feeling, being involved in the game, but not able to control it. "I think I could be okay with it. I'll change to fit in."

Reiji sighed deeply. It was times like this that he and Hiroto hated the most. They had talked amongst themselves many times and several of those times included Hikaru in it. Although the three of them were the same age, Reiji and Hiroto felt Hikaru needed protection. Hikaru loved soccer, of that Reiji was sure. Hikaru was also great at soccer and smart when it came to game plays. However, Hikaru didn't understand that becoming a soccer player was a tough road. He had wanted to protect Hikaru a little longer, yet... Reiji sighed deeply again. He felt old for his age, sighing like that.

"Can you have fun playing soccer by doing that?" Reiji asked.

"Probably?"

"You might, but it wouldn't be as fun as it could be. Like how I thrived on competitiveness, your potential and skills come out the most when you're enjoying yourself and that happens when you get to call the shots," Reiji explained.

"But I can change," Hikaru replied stubbornly. He didn't understand where Reiji was getting at.

A few minutes ticked by while both of them ate. The atmosphere felt slightly thick before a voice spoke up.

"I'm moving."

"Hm?" Hikaru glanced over with a mouthful of ramen.

"We're going to Korea," Reiji said, unable to look at Hikaru for his reaction.

"Wait, what? You're joking! Why?" Hikaru exclaimed, alarmed. Reiji was joking with him, right?

"My dad found a job over there and my elder sister is going over there for university."

Hikaru couldn't find his voice to make a verbal response and Reiji took the silence to continue.

"After this term, we're leaving beginning of August. We've been talking about it lately and my parents finalized it last night."

"Soccer? But you made the team!" Hikaru's voice rose. They both made the team, they were both going to go to win tournaments and play against Hiroto and become the best. They can't do that if Reiji leaves.

"I know. I haven't told coach yet. I want to wait a few weeks to enjoy it before I tell him." Reiji's words came out slow and cheerless.

"What about our goals of becoming the best!?" Hikaru demanded despite a lump stuck within his throat. He was fully facing Reiji now, ramen forgotten, and staring at him so hard in hopes that Reiji would yell out 'I'm joking'.

"We'll just meet at the world's stage," Reiji replied and finally managed to face Hikaru with a bittersweet smile.

"But Korea is so far! It's another country!"

"We can email one another. My sister is teaching me how to use our computer and she helped me made an account."

"But we won't be able to play soccer together again. First Hiroto, now you!?" Hikaru felt abandoned. Hiroto and Reiji were the first friends he made while playing soccer. They went through elementary school together and Hikaru wanted to believe they'd be able to go through junior and high school together. When Hiroto moved to a different city, it was tough, but at least he was in the country so they could go visit him or vice versa. However, Reiji was going to a different country. Hikaru was the only one left.

Reiji grimaced. He felt he was going to leave Hikaru behind and he was helpless to do anything about it.

"Sorry, Hikaru, sorry."

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It was the third Saturday in April, the sun shone, the birds chirped, and Hikaru was not happy. The thought of Reiji leaving was always lingering at the back of his mind and he hated it. He almost wished Reiji hadn't told him until he was about to leave. The waiting and anticipation that their time together was going to end was agonizing.

Also despite all his efforts, Hikaru could not get his mom to agree to the weekend soccer trip to see Japan's team play in a practice match the next city over. They would watch the game and then spend the weekend and have a few practices before heading home. And Hikaru would be missing all that because his mom wouldn't fork over the fees. He tried to ask for an advanced allowance, only to be glared at and told that he was already two month's allowances ahead. It wasn't his fault that his favorite manga came out once every week and the price for a manga increased.

He was stuck at home with no one to call over to play soccer and not even Akari was home to bothered. Akari had to go to her grandparents' place somewhere in the countryside for the weekend. _I need more friends_, Hikaru thought to himself otherwise he wouldn't be where he was at the moment.

And where is Hikaru? He's currently keeping his grandpa company at a street festival near his grandparents' place. _Only, he's ditched me when he saw his friends_, Hikaru thought darkly. Hikaru ended up walking alone through the festival with a few dollars, hurriedly given by his gramps, for food.

The festival wasn't big and it didn't take long for Hikaru to reach the end of the boarder for the festivities where there were only a few tables scattered about. One of the table caught his eye with a large poster of a Go game. Curious, Hikaru walked over.

"Hello, do you play Go?"

Hikaru looked up from the polite inquiry of the man sitting behind the table. He was an older gentleman, probably around Hikaru's father's age.

"Er, a little bit," Hikaru responded, returning his attention to the pamphlets and paper on the table.

"Oh, wonderful! Have you ever heard of NetGo?" the other man asked, excitedly.

"NetGo?"

"Yes, it's a website where people go on to play Go. It's completely free and this..." the older man continued to explain animatedly, passing pamphlets and papers to Hikaru and not letting Hikaru get a word in.

Soon, Hikaru was walking away from the table with a bunch of papers and in a daze. _What in the world happened? _Hikaru thought to himself, perplexed. He couldn't even try walking away.

_But NetGo, huh, maybe I'll get Akari to help me._

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Hikaru found himself bored, with nothing to do the following day. Hikaru didn't want to wait for Akari to come back to help him so he went out by himself to the nearby internet cafe and hoped that if he messed up on the computer, the workers there would be able to fix it.

"..and if you have any other questions, just drop by the counter and we'll see what we can do," an older girl, working for the internet cafe, explained.

"Er, thanks," Hikaru murmured as the girl walked away. _And my mom thought dyeing my bangs blond was such a big deal_, Hikaru thought to himself as he sneaked a glance at the girl's pink-dyed hair.

Hikaru was given a computer near the end of the row and if anyone looked at him, a large potted plant was obscuring his face. The girl who worked there had taught him how to logged in and out, explained the fees (which Hikaru only had enough for an hour), and some other basic stuff before leaving. Using the computer was still new to Hikaru since he hadn't really needed to use it.

Hikaru took out the pamphlet and stumbled around the keyboard and mouse to type the website's address in.

"Oh, that looks familiar," Hikaru mumbled to himself as the page loads. He had seen an image of this in his vision before.

_To Login In, Please Enter The Following:_

_Username:_

_Password:_

_Don't Have One? Register! _

Hikaru clicked on the button to register. He tried typing his name for the required username, but apparently, it was taken.

"Maybe I should try something funny," Hikaru whispered to himself while trying to think of another name. But then, the conversation with Reiji popped into mind. _Let's try that._

_Light _is available.

"Seriously?" Hikaru made a face of disbelief at the screen. _It's probably too cheesy for people to choose_, Hikaru reasoned out mentally. "Well, whatever, I just want to see real quick what this is."

Hikaru filled out the rest of the information and minutes, his account was completed.

Before Hikaru got the chance to enter his username and password, he was assailed with more images. Some of the images he had seen before while some were new. Two things stood out and lingered in his mind when the images finally subsided.

_No way..._ Hikaru pondered. He hesitated momentarily before deciding. His index finger went and search for the letter S.

_Username_: S-A-I.

_Password_: *******

Hikaru chewed his lower lip as the mouse hovered over the _Enter _button.

_Click_.

Hikaru didn't know exactly what he was expecting, but it definitely wouldn't be the webpage changing. His heart sped up when numerous notices were popping up, of random names, asking for a game. Hikaru panicked.

"Er, excuse me, but are you okay?" a voice from Hikaru's right called out.

Hikaru whipped his head violently towards the voice, terrified that he had done something wrong and he was caught acting crazy. However, it was only an older lady, probably around his mother's age, looking at him with concern.

"Are you cold? You seem to be shaking," asked the lady.

"Uh, no. Yes. N-I don't... I don't know how to stop this? I don't want to be on this page anymore," Hikaru stumbled over his words and pointed at his screen accusingly.

The woman leaned over and looked at the screen. "You mean you want to log-out?"

Her words weren't registering with Hikaru and all he could do was nod.

"There's a logout icon on the top right corner of the screen, just press it and it'll sign you out and bring you back to the site's homepage, usually," the woman explained.

Hikaru rushed to bring the mouse over the icon the woman pointed out and immediately clicked it. When the page brought him back onto the log-in screen, all Hikaru do was take a deep breath. His body shook silently in shock and disbelief. He managed to mutter a 'thank you' to the woman when he realized she was still staring at him in confusion.

Sai was getting more and more real and Hikaru didn't know how to respond to that. Yes, he read about Sai in the magazine and all, but this, this was something that _belonged _to the real Sai and not the Sai in his visions.

The Sai in his vision seemed otherworldly, something that belonged only in his visions and the real Sai was only a coincidence, a big monstrous coincidence. At least, that was what Hikaru had come to think of it as. But just now, Hikaru had access into the real Sai's belonging, his vision's Sai wasn't just his Sai anymore, but someone that exists. The Sai who lived in his vision and the real Sai in Hikaru's reality, how were the two related?

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_**A/N: **_Like many things, this chapter sounded a lot better in my mind and then something happened during the transferring process.

On another note, I feel cruel, making you guys wait for Sai. It's five chapters in and nothing. I blame how the story is coming out since it's sort of writing itself (hence some plot bunnies). I do have a vague idea of when Sai is showing up. But telling you guys that wouldn't be fun, now would it?

Next Chapter: Chapter 6 - Untitled. (I got nothing, not even one idea for it. =/ - And I mean for the Chapter Title, not where the story is going.)


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